Merry Go Round Again
by saracommitted
Summary: [GSR] The second book in the Find Her Series. Who is more scared, Sara Sidle, or Dani Sidle?
1. Morning Lifestyle

**Book Title:** Merry Go Round Again.

**Pairing: **Grissom / Sara.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI, my own characters, however, such as Dani and Adam, I do own. Cause I'm cool and get to own people.

**Summary: **The second book in the Find Her Series. A bit of Déjà vu? Another chance for the outcome to be good or bad.

Chapter One ; 

Morning Lifestyle

Dani Sidle walked out of her bedroom in a black tank top and white pajama pants. Her dark brown hair that was fairly long and went down to about the middle of her back was in a loose ponytail. It was a warm August morning and it had only been two months since Dani had moved in with Sara and Grissom, but she felt like she had been living there her whole life.

The now 13-year old girl walked into the part of the apartment that was a living room. She looked on the bookshelf for something interesting to read. She was bored and had been up for about an hour, and couldn't fall back to sleep, so she decided to read something.

Dani glanced at the clock that was on the microwave in the kitchen part of the apartment, it glowed 6:52. She sighed and turned back to the bookshelf, searching the spines of some books, seeing if anything would catch her eye. Most of the books were forensics books, or science books, which Dani found to be extremely interesting. She paced back and forth a couple of times in front of the bookshelf, then picked up the cordless phone from the island in the kitchen and walked back to her bedroom.

Careful not to wake a sleeping Sara in the next room, she quietly dialed Adam's cell number, which she knew off by heart. He was her best friend, and her like for solitude made him her only friend other than Sara and Grissom. She let out a small sigh of relief as the phone rang instead of giving her 'this customer is not available at this time' that she usually got when she called Adam early in the morning or late at night.

"Dani?" Adam asked, whispering. Dani felt a slight bit of excitement, since he had answered the phone.

"Hi," Dani said, also whispering into the phone. Adam sounded like he was very awake. "What's up?"

"Dani, it's 7 in the morning, nothing is up, including almost no one," Adam said, still whispering.

"Grissom is, he's at work," Dani said.

"Dani, what's wrong?"

"Why do you assume something is wrong?" Dani asked.

"Most teenagers are sleeping at this time during the summer," Adam explained simply.

"I'm not like most, and you aren't sleeping now either."

"Wow, you've managed to change the conversation for longer this time," Adam said with a slight laugh. This made Dani smile at how much they knew each other.

"I'm bored, and am bored of looking for something to do," Dani said. She heard movement in the next room, it startled her at first but then recognized it as Sara's footsteps. She knew she'd get yelled at if she was on the phone at this time in the morning. "I have to go, Sara's up," Dani whispered into the phone.

"Okay, call me later," he said and Dani hung up the phone. She put the phone on her desk and got out a book and sat on her bed and pretended to read it. She listened as Sara moved from her bedroom to the small hallway to the kitchen, probably to get a drink. Dani smiled to herself, Sara hadn't heard the phone call, or she just chose to ignore it. Dani put the book on her book shelf and let herself out of her room and walked into the kitchen. She hoped up and sat on one of the stools at the island. Dani crossed her arms and put them on the table.

Sara, who was tending to coffee, now turned and looked at Dani. She then glanced at the schedule posted on the fridge, then turned back to Dani. "Both Grissom and I are working tonight, so if anything happens just call or go over to Mrs. Brady's," Sara said. Mrs. Brady was the middle-aged lady who lived across the hall, with her husband Tim.

"I know," Dani said with a somewhat annoyed tone.

Sara stared into Dani's green eyes, she just wanted her to be safe, and she couldn't stress that enough. "I'm just making sure," she said with a little smile.

Dani sighed, "Sara, you're my sister, not my mother."

This made Sara stop.

She swallowed then spoke softly, "I know, it's just…"

"Sara, I was in foster families, it's not like I had no mother-figure at all," Dani said, cutting her off.

Sara was always amazed by Dani's intelligence. "I know that, but…"

"You don't have to replace mom," Dani said, guessing again at what Sara might be trying to say.

"I… I guess that's what I've been doing," Sara admitted. Sara looked at Dani, who only looked back. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was… it's just our age difference makes me feel like I have to be a mother to you, and when the social worker interviewed me, that's what they were expecting too."

Dani nodded, "Okay."

There was silence for a few short moments.

"Want some cereal?" Sara asked.

Dani smiled, "Sure."

About half an hour later, Grissom walked into the apartment to see the two women in his life cleaning up, probably from eating breakfast. He kicked off his shoes, put down his suitcase then walked into the kitchen. He greeted Sara, who was washing a few dishes, with a hug and a small kiss on the cheek. Then he walked over to the other side of the island and greeted Dani with a hug.

"How was work?" Dani asked, it had become a routine for her every morning that someone came home from the Crime Lab.

"It was okay," Gil answered.

"Just okay?" Sara asked, turning to him from the sink.

"Ecklie was chasing me around the lab, trying to get me to do paper work," Grissom answered.

Dani raised an eyebrow, "Chasing?"

"Not literally, Dani," Grissom said. Dani smiled and Sara laughed. Grissom yawned, "I'm going for a sleep."

He left the room and Sara continued to wash the dishes, Dani hoped down from the stool she was sitting in.

"I'm going for a shower," Dani said then walked down the small hallway.


	2. Inseperable

Chapter Two ; 

Inseperable

After her shower, Dani blow dried her hair a bit and let the rest dry on its own. She went into her bedroom and sat at her little dresser that was in her room. It was the same pink that her shelf and desk were, which matched the curtains and the bed. The bed and curtains were blue with pink and purple butterflies.

Dani picked up her eyeliner crayon and outlined her eyes in a thin black line, then she put on mascara. She picked up her eyeliner crayon again and drew a small butterfly beside her left eye. Looking straight at her the butterfly was to the right of her eye, and slightly below it. She looked at herself in the mirror, she was wearing a white and black striped tee, which had black mesh sleeves, and a black jagged-edged skirt that went to her knees.

Dani walked out of her room as the phone rang. She walked back to the phone that was on her desk and answered it. It was Adam.

"Hi," Dani said into the phone. Sara appeared in Dani's bedroom doorway and Dani mouthed that it was Adam.

"Guess what?!" Adam asked, sounded overly excited.

"What?" Dani asked, even more excited.

"After lots of begging and pleading and debating, I got my Mom to enroll me to Butterfield Academy!" Adam said extremely quickly into the phone.

Butterfield Academy was the school that Dani was going to in September, she had thought that it would separate Adam and her since they'd be going to different schools, she was officially wrong. They would both be starting grade 9. Dani had skipped grade 4, and Adam was a year older than her.

"I can't believe it!" Dani almost screamed into the phone, completely forgetting that Grissom was in the next room, sleeping. Sara appeared in Dani's doorway again.

"Dani, Grissom's sleeping," Sara whispered.

"Hold on, I'm going to tell Sara," Dani said quietly and turned to Sara. "Adam's going to Butterfield Academy!" Sara smiled, _those two can manage anything._

"That's great!" Sara said, then left the room as Dani went back to talking with Adam.

After about a half an hour, Dani hung up the phone and left her bedroom. She curled up into a small but comfy chair in the corner of the apartment that was the living room. She stared out at the city of Las Vegas. The sun was shining on her face, making her green eyes almost look like they were glowing to Sara, who watched Dani from the kitchen.

Dani stared out, what she could see from the apartment window always amazed her. She loved heights, she liked being at high levels. She loved looking over the world. It gave her some sort of relief that she had some power over everything. In her life, everything had either been decided by someone else, or caused by someone else.

Sara was standing in the kitchen, wiping a counter, she had stopped cleaning when Dani came out of her bedroom to see what she would do, to watch her, to analyze her. Sara wasn't surprised at the fact that Dani seemed to almost always be insecure, and the little girl hid it very well, the only reason that Sara could see it was because she had looked in the mirror at it every day.

Without moving a muscle, Dani asked Sara, "Could you stop watching me, please?"

Sara quickly turned around and faced the fridge. She turned back around slowly to see Dani staring at her. Sara sighed, "Sorry, I didn't know you knew I was looking at you."

Dani gave out a little laugh at the seemingly obvious confusion of the sentence. She returned to her position of staring out the window.

"Any plans today?" Sara asked after a few minutes of complete silence.

Dani shrugged. "I don't know, I'll probably do something with Adam," she answered.

Sara smirked. "Who else would you hang out with," she said. Dani laughed. Adam was pretty much Dani's only friend. They hung out with each other almost every day. Neither of them ever hung out with anyone else their age, and Dani liked it that way.


	3. No One Closer

Chapter Three ;

No One Closer

A knock at the door made Dani jump out of her daydream. She turned her head and Sara was no longer in the room. She was in a different chair now, the one across from the one she was in earlier, because she got up to answer the phone. It was probably Adam at the door, so Dani decided to get up. She moved towards the door, and yawned. She was really tired.

Dani got to the door and went on her tip-toes to see through the peephole. She saw Adam's skinny and normal-height figure. She also saw his brown hair that wasn't too long, but wasn't really short either. Dani opened the door and Adam walked in, kicked off his shoes, and sat down on the couch with Dani after she closed the door.

Dani picked up the remote to the TV and turned it on, some soap opera was on that Dani had seen maybe two episodes of. Her and Adam liked watching one episode of one, and then making up their own storylines as to what happened or what might happen.

In the soap opera they were watching, some woman was claiming that some guy was the father of her unborn child. They were in a courtroom, and the woman was screaming accusations to the man and the judge couldn't control them.

"The lawyer is the father," Adam suggested.

"No, it was the lawyer last time, this time it's the judge," Dani corrected. They watched for a while and eventually some random guy came bursting into the courtroom yelling that he was the father.

"Who is that guy?" Dani asked.

"The lawyer's brother," Adam answered. Dani turned and looked at him, holding back a smile. She turned back to the TV and found out it was the woman's first child's father. The soap opera ended, and the credits of the show started.

"I didn't expect that one," Dani concluded.

"Because it was too obvious that it obviously wouldn't be obvious on a soap opera, so the people who wrote the soap opera decided to be smart for once and make the ending the not so obvious ending because it would be too obvious to be obvious," Adam explained.

"Want to know what's scary?" Dani asked and turned to him.

"What?"

"I understood that," Dani said and laughed.

After a few minutes of channel surfing, then giving up because there was absolutely nothing interesting to watch, Dani turned off the TV and turned to Adam.

"What do you want to do?" She asked him.

He shrugged, "Walk?"

Sara walked in the room and Dani got up and walked over to her, and Adam followed.

"Sar, we're going for a walk, okay?" Dani half asked and told her.

"Sure, it's nice outside," Sara said and smiled.

Dani and Adam put on their shoes and walked out of the apartment. They walked down a small set of stairs, then another set on the opposite side of the hallway. They walked down another six sets of the small staircases then opened the glass door and were finally outside the apartment building.

They started walking the opposite direction of the busier streets in Vegas. Dani usually stuck to the side streets, because the more busy ones scared her. They walked for a while until they were about to pass by a park.

"Want to go swing on the swings?" Dani asked.

"Sure," Adam answered, then he started running into the park. Dani chased him, down the ditch and then back up the other side and into the playground.


	4. Behind Closed Doors

Chapter Four ;

Behind Closed Doors 

At the apartment, Sara was flipping through a case file at the kitchen table. She read over notes about a murder of a nine-year old girl. She heard movement coming from her bedroom. Grissom's figure appeared in the hallway, and then came across the space between the kitchen and the area considered as a living room to where Sara was sitting. He put a hand on her back, and a hand on the table and leaned over her shoulder.

Sara looked up briefly and smiled at him, then looked back down at the file. She turned the page and a picture of the nine-year old girl in the morgue revealed itself.

"We haven't caught him yet," Grissom finally said, with a slight trace of disappointment in his voice.

Sara sighed, "I know."

Grissom put his arms around her, he could hear it in Sara's voice that this case was killing her. It was a tough one, this little girl was taken to an open field where she was beaten for six hours before she was strangled. Her arms and legs were tied up, and she was helpless. The CSI's had figured out that their killer advertises himself as a babysitter, then when the parents leave, he takes the child to a different location and thinks up ways to torture them before he kills them.

The CSI's confirmed that he was officially a serial killer two days ago, when they found that the DNA in the semen found in another child to match a hair they found on this girl.

"Can you imagine what the parents feel like?" Sara asked. "They thought they could trust him, they let him into their home, they left him alone with their child." Sara paused. "Then he took their trust and tortured the child through her cries, then kills her in ways so that the child feels the life being forced out of them." Both victims, both children, had been young girls, younger than ten-years old.

Grissom's arms were still around Sara. "I know, I know," he said soothingly. He knew that Sara hated cases that had to do with betraying trust.

Grissom pulled away and looked at her face. She had tears in her eyes, which she was now wiping away. Grissom took her hand in his.

"We'll catch him, we'll get him," He assured her.

Sara looked at him and nodded, then let out a little smile. She sighed, "Dani's home alone tonight, we both have shift," she said with hurt in her eyes.

Grissom opened his mouth slightly, his eyes moved back and forth, thinking of something to do. Neither of them felt safe leaving Dani home alone while this guy was out there, but they didn't want to call a babysitter because of the worry they would have while at work.

"We could invite Adam to stay over, I'm sure that both of them here would be safe," Grissom suggested.

Sara smiled, then pursed her lips. She had a certain look in her eyes.

Grissom let out a dry laugh. "They're friends," he said.

"Sure, but I see the way they look at each other," Sara said. "There's something there, and I think Dani has thought about it, a lot. I think she knows that she likes him as more than a friend, but she doesn't want to ruin their friendship because they are so comfortable around each other. If they date, then go back to being friends, everything would be awkward," She explained.

"You just proved my point," Grissom said with a smile.

Sara opened her mouth to argue, then figured out that she did. They might have feelings for each other as more than friends, but they _were_ only friends.

"Do you see the way Adam looks at her?" Grissom asked.

"Yes! And he begged his Mom to allow him to go to Butterfield Academy!" Sara paused, "It's cute."

Grissom let out another dry laugh, "It is."

Sara looked back down at the case file, then closed it. She didn't want to think about the case right now. There was a small moment of silence.

"Everyone's on shift tonight," Grissom told her, "We'll get him." He had noticed the look on Sara's face when she had closed the file. Sara looked up at him and nodded, it assured her, somewhat.


	5. Protect Her, Protect Me

Chapter Five ;

Protect Her, Protect Me

Dani was sitting at the top of the jungle gym, the very top, she was sitting on the bars above one of the slides, the ones you probably aren't supposed to sit on. Adam was sitting on the plastic part that went around the opening of the slide, which was beside Dani. Then Dani's cell phone started ringing.

She got the phone out of her pocket and looked at the Caller ID, 'Home.' "Hello," she answered.

"Hi," Sara's voice came through the phone, she paused because she knew the question wasn't one people usually asked. "Do you think Adam could sleep over at our apartment tonight?"

Dani scrunched up her face, "…Why?"

"Well," Sara started then paused, she didn't want to worry Dani. She wasn't sure what to say, or how to explain it. Adam had never slept over before, for the obvious reason that he was a boy and Dani was a girl. "I just have a case, and I'd feel safer if Adam stayed over."

Dani giggled, "You trust us?"

This made Sara laugh, she pursed her lips, which Grissom saw. "Is there a reason I shouldn't?"

"No, I was just joking," Dani said, more serious now so Sara would believe her.

"I know, I know," Sara said and smiled.

"I'll let him call his mom and then call you back," Dani decided.

"Okay, where are you?" Sara asked.

"Just at the park."

Shivers went down Sara's spine. She had had countless cases where kids were kidnapped from parks, then raped, then murdered. She let out a sigh of relief as she remembered Adam was there with her. Usually kidnappers targeted kids who were alone.

"Sara? Hello?" Dani said into the phone. Sara snapped out of her little daydream of wandering thoughts.

She heard Adam's voice in the background, "Did you get cut off?"

Dani turned to him and shrugged.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," Sara finally said.

"Okay, well, Adam's going to call his mom, and then I'll call back," Dani said.

"Okay, bye," Sara said and hung up. Dani did the same and passed her cell phone to Adam. He looked down at it, and then looked up at her.

"Ask if you can sleep over at my apartment," Dani said simply. Adam raised an eyebrow. "Sara's worried, case-related." Dani didn't need to explain further, after being best friends with her and knowing Grissom and Sara, Adam knew that some cases got to them.

"Well, this will be fun to explain to my parents," Adam commented and dialed his phone number. After explaining everything to his mom, and then assuring her more than twice that Dani and him were just friends, his mom finally gave in. He gave the phone back to Dani, who placed it back into her pocket.

There was a silence, and Adam let out a laugh. Dani turned around and looked at him. He smirked. "They kept making dirty jokes," He said and smiled. Dani rolled her eyes and leaned back and put her head on his shoulder.

Adam looked down at her, and for a brief moment, thought about their friendship. He thought about his feelings, he thought about her feelings. He pondered the thought of the two of them becoming more than friends, and for some reason, became scared of the idea.

It wasn't that he didn't want to, but it wasn't because he wanted to either. It was just that becoming too close left nothing to fall back on. That was what scared him. Of course, it would also make their friendship awkward, which also made him scared.

Adam wasn't supposed to be the scared one, he was supposed to be the one protecting Dani from everything she was scared of. He had done it many times before. A lot of times, when they went to the movies, Adam would have to put his arm around her so that she didn't get too scared when they were watching a horror movie. The gestures they did, such as putting their arms around each other, hugging, or even resting their head on the other's shoulder, was common and didn't make things awkward. They were just that good of friends, that they knew it was so they both felt safe, that they both felt protected, mainly Dani.

Dani was staring up at him, wondering what was going through his mind, what he was seeing in his eyes. She sighed, then when Adam came back to reality, he stared down at her.

With them both staring at each other, if this was a romance movie, you'd think that they were about to kiss, but they weren't. They were just staring into each other's eyes, probably reading each other's minds, actually.

Dani sat back up, and got her phone out of her pocket, remembering that she had to call Sara back. Adam stared into the distance, mostly across the park, still thinking about his thoughts earlier. Dani opened the phone, then looked back at Adam briefly, and found him to be lost in thought. She didn't bother to ask, and turned back to the phone and called Sara.

"Hello," Sara answered.

"Hi, it's me, Adam can sleep over," Dani informed her.

"Okay, but he's sleeping on the couch," Sara said.

"Aww, but if I get scared, can he sleep in my bed with me?" Dani asked and made her voice saddened and pretended to pout. This made Adam laugh hysterically. Dani listened as Sara laughed on the other line. "I'm joking."

"I know. Okay, talk to you later," Sara said, concluding the conversation and hung up the phone. Dani closed the phone and put it back in her pocket. She turned to Adam, who was staring out into nothing again. She sighed.

"What's wrong?" She asked him. He turned his head towards her, then looked away. They were best friends, the kind that could tell each other almost anything, but Adam didn't want to say his thoughts out loud, because the whole point on contemplating them would have no point at all if he told her. Since, that was what he had been contemplating in the first place.

"Nothing," Adam answered and sighed.

Dani tilted her head. "I know when something's wrong, Adam, I'm not dumb, and I'm not some random person that has never talked to you before," She said and laughed.

Adam smiled, "Sorry, I forgot."

Dani's mouth gaped open. She play punched him. They jumped down from the top of the slide and started walking back home. On the way, Adam put his arm around Dani, and the thoughts about his feelings still wandered his mind.


	6. Supposed to be Safe

Chapter Six ;

Supposed to be Safe

Dani and Adam walked into the apartment. They slipped off their shoes and then sat on the couch. Grissom walked into the kitchen and got himself a drink. He noticed the two of them were sitting in the living room part of the apartment. He smiled at them briefly.

"Sara's having a nap, before dinner," Gil told them.

"Okay," Dani said.

Adam turned to Dani, "Can I go home at get my stuff?" He asked.

"Sure," she replied. Adam got up and put his shoes back on, waved to Dani, who smiled back, then he left. Dani got up and got some juice. She went into her bedroom, and sat down at her desk and turned her computer on.

--

Grissom picked out what they'd have for dinner, and put it on the counter, veggie-burgers and fries. Since Sara was a vegetarian, Dani and Grissom would usually eat vegetarian food when they were at home too, but if they were at a restaurant or something, they would get what they wanted. So, you couldn't really call them vegetarians, but they respected Sara's decisions.

Gil walked into Dani's room and stayed in the doorway. He watched her for a moment, then walked a few steps in. He looked over her shoulder and found that she was on MSN, and researching psychology.

"Boo," Grissom said in a casual voice.

Dani jumped and spun around quickly. As she saw Grissom, she let out a sigh of relief. She paused before speaking to catch her breath.

"Why did you do that?" Dani asked him in a harsh tone.

Grissom shrugged. "I wanted to see your reaction. Is Adam eating dinner here?"

Dani thought for a moment, "He just went to get his clothes and stuff, he'll probably be here for dinner."

Grissom nodded, and left the room. Dani turned back to her computer and continued to read about psychology.

Grissom walked into his bedroom, which was also Sara's bedroom. Sara was sleeping peacefully on the bed. Gil didn't want to wake her, so he decided to make dinner himself. He walked out of the room and went into the kitchen. He set the oven and then sat down in one of the chairs in the corner of the apartment and started reading a forensic textbook.

A couple minutes later, the oven beeped and Grissom got up from the chair. He put the burgers and fries in separate dishes in the oven, then timed them at ten minutes. They'd be ready at 5:00.

There was a knock at the door and Dani walked relatively fast out of her room and beat Grissom, who was in the kitchen, to the door. She laughed and he smirked, then he turned around and went back into the kitchen.

Dani opened the door and Adam was standing in front of her with a backpack. She opened the door wider and moved so he could come in. He slipped off his shoes and, for now, put his backpack in Dani's room.

As they walked out of Dani's room, Sara walked out of her room. She smiled at them briefly then walked into the kitchen and saw Grissom preparing for dinner. She smiled at him warmly.

"Thanks," She said. Gil smiled back then continued to get dinner ready. Dani and Adam walked into the kitchen, and hopped up onto two of the stools at the island and waited for dinner to be served.

--

After dinner, Sara and Grissom got ready for work while Adam and Dani were in the living room part of the apartment watching a movie. At 5:30, Grissom was putting his shoes on, briefcase in hand and Sara was in her room, still getting ready. Grissom was standing at the door, waiting, with no expression on his face, but Dani could see his impatience. He never showed it, and everyone knew him to be very patient.

Grissom sighed and looked at his watch. He didn't get impatient for many things, but being at the lab on time was an exception. Sara came out of her room, apologizing over and over.

"It's okay, we're not late," Grissom said to her. Sara put on her shoes and made sure she had everything with her since she had brought a case file home. Once she was sure she wasn't missing anything, she walked over to Dani and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Actually, if you don't want to sleep on the couch, Adam, you could sleep in mine and Grissom's bed," Sara suggested.

"Okay," Adam said and smiled.

"If anything happens, just go over to Mrs. Brady's," Sara said. Dani smiled at her.

"I know," she said. Sara knew that Dani knew, but she felt the need to say it anyway.

"Ready?" Sara asked Grissom. He nodded.

"Bye," Grissom said to the kids and opened the door.

"Bye," Both Dani and Adam said at the same time. They both looked at each other, then smiled at Sara and Grissom as they left the apartment. Then, they continued to watch the movie.

--

Dani woke up and looked at the clock on the microwave, it glowed 11:04. She lifted her head from Adam's shoulder and looked around, the movie had ended, and Adam was asleep. She poked him and his head shot up.

"Ow!" He said, then he looked around. "We fell asleep."

"Good observation," Dani said sarcastically. She yawned. "I'm tired, we should go to bed." Adam nodded and Dani got up and turned the TV off. She turned off the lights and left the one in the bathroom on so that if either of them got up during the night, they'd be able to see where they were going.

Adam got his backpack from Dani's room and then went into Grissom and Sara's room. Before going into her own room, Dani stopped and peeked her head into Sara's room.

"Good night," she said and smiled. Adam smiled back at her, then went back to tending to getting ready.

Dani walked into her bedroom and got changed.

--

Over an hour later, Dani was still staring up at her ceiling. She couldn't sleep. Usually, if she couldn't sleep, she would call Adam and talk to him for a bit. Since he was at her house, she couldn't really do that. She was contemplating whether to get up and go talk to him, or to stay in bed and try to fall asleep.

After a few minutes, Dani got impatient with trying to sleep, and she swung herself up and off the bed. She walked softly out of her room and let herself into Sara and Grissom's room. She walked softly across the room and found that Adam was asleep.

Dani crawled up onto the bed and sat cross-legged beside Adam. The mattress shift woke him up and he turned his head to see Dani looking over him.

"I can't sleep," she explained.

"I can," Adam remarked.

"Well, I can't," Dani said back. Adam sat up and across from her. He decided to mimic her and sat cross-legged. There was a moment where neither of them spoke and the whole apartment was completely quiet.

Then the front door creaked open. Dani turned her head, and fear flew into her body. She heard the lock on the door fall to the ground, whoever it was must have un-screwed the lock. Dani turned back to Adam, who had the same fear in his eyes.

"Closet, now," Dani whispered quickly. She got up from the bed quietly, and so did Adam. Dani grabbed the cordless phone that was on the small table beside the bed and opened Sara's closet. She sat inside of it, and Adam sat beside her. Dani closed the closet door as quietly as she could, but it still made a noise.

Dani dialed 9-1-1 on the phone and put it to her ear. Adam hugged Dani as close as he could; he was scared to death.

"Hey, did you hear that?" A dry voice said. There was at least two of them, and they were in the hall.

"Hear what?" A slightly higher pitched voice asked.

"There was a noise, like a door closing," The darker, dryer voice said. Dani heard them open her bedroom door, she heard their footsteps walk across her bedroom floor. She heard them open her closet door.

"9-1-1, do you need fire rescue, or police?" The lady on the other line of the phone asked.

"Police," Dani said in a barely audible whisper.

"Police, how can I help you?" A man said over the line.

"There's people in my apartment, they broke in, I'm with my friend, we're hiding, but they're going to find us soon. Call my sister, her name is Sara Sidle and she is working in the crime lab," Dani whispered as calmly as she could, she felt tears fall down her face.

"Can you tell me where you are?" The man asked, "Don't tell me if you think they can hear you."

More tears fell down Dani's cheeks, "Hesterland Apartment building, apartment 9A," she whispered.

"Can you tell me your name?" The man asked.

"Dani Sidle, please call my sister, her name is Sara Sidle, she is at the crime lab," Dani whispered.

"Okay, we sent out officers, they will be there soon, just try to stay hidden as long as possible and stay calm, we will call your sister," The man said.

"Okay," Dani whispered. She heard them open the bedroom door; she held her breath. As they opened the closet door, Dani and Adam screamed as loud as they possibly could.


	7. It's a Crime Scene

Chapter Seven ;

It's a Crime Scene.

Sara had her arms crossed, holding her stomach because she felt like she was going to be sick. Grissom was standing beside her, in front of her apartment. They had just been interviewed by Brass. Mrs. Brady was standing a few feet away from them, being asked questions by Jim. Sara was crying, not a lot, but a few tears had managed to fall down her face.

Catherine, Nick, Warrick and Greg were walking down the hall. They saw Sara, but wondered why Grissom was there already. All they knew was that there had been a kidnapping, of whom, they didn't know. They wondered why Sara was involved. Then Catherine noticed Sara was crying.

The four of them went up to Sara and Grissom, but Gil motioned them to follow him, and they walked a few feet away from Sara.

"What's going on, Gil?" Catherine asked.

Grissom sighed, they could see the pain in his eyes. "Sara's younger sister, Dani, was kidnapped, along with her friend Adam," he explained.

"Since when does Sara have a sister?" Nick asked, "She's never said anything about it before."

"Do you remember the Feller case? Two parents were killed and the child was kidnapped. It turned out that the child was a foster child, and Dani's real last name is Sidle. After we found that out, Sara adopted her," Grissom explained.

"Why are you already here?" Catherine asked. Grissom turned around and looked at Sara to make sure she was alright, she looked like an emotional wreck.

"Look, I have to go and… talk with Sara, can you guys process the scene, let me know if you find anything," Grissom said, stressing the word 'anything.'

"You're not processing?" Greg asked.

"No, I… I can't."

"Why?" Greg asked.

"I'm… too involved with the people involved," Gil said, and without another word, he returned to standing with Sara. Greg knew what he meant by 'too involved with the people', because he knew that Grissom and Sara were together, but he didn't know that Sara had a sister who was living with her.

The four of them walked into the apartment, and looked around, taking in their surroundings. Jim Brass entered the apartment.

"I got a print-out of the conversation with the police that Dani had before she was found. It looks like she left the phone where she was hiding when the kidnappers found her," Jim said. He handed the paper to Catherine.

_There's people in my apartment, they broke in, I'm with my friend, we're hiding, but they're going to find us soon. Call my sister, her name is Sara Sidle and she is working in the crime lab. _

_Can you tell me where you are? Don't tell me if you think they can hear you._

_Hesterland apartment building, apartment 9A _

_Can you tell me your name?_

_Dani Sidle, please call my sister, her name is Sara Sidle, she is at the crime lab. _

_Okay, we sent out officers, they will be there soon, just try to stay hidden as long as possible and stay calm, we will call your sister. _

_Okay._

_-screams- _

_-thuds-_

_-screams- _

_Make them shut up!_

_I'm trying!_

_Get away from me! _

_-thuds- _

_-screams- _

_Shut up or we kill you. _

_-thuds- _

_-loud bang- _

_What did you do?_

_Do it, it'll shut him up. _

_-loud bang-_

_C'mon, hurry before the neighbors call police. _

"That helps, thanks Jim," Catherine said. "So where would they hide?"

"Closet?" Greg suggested.

"What time did the call come in?" Catherine asked, turning back to Jim. Jim checked his notebook.

"At 12:42," he answered.

"Let's check the bedroom," Catherine said. Greg, Warrick, Nick and Catherine, all looked around the apartment so that they became familiar with the crime scene. They found Sara's room, and Dani's room. "Wow," Catherine said as she looked around Dani's room.

"That is a lot of butterflies," Greg commented. Catherine noticed that the closet door was open. She kneeled in front of it and looked to see if she could find a phone.

"It's not in here, Greg print the doorknob, I think the kidnappers were looking for them," Catherine said. Greg began to get out his fingerprint powder and Catherine, Nick and Warrick went into Sara's room. They noticed a laundry hamper in the corner. "Hey, wait a minute," Catherine said. She walked over to the laundry hamper and picked up a shirt with a gloved hand. "Grissom wore this yesterday."

Nick and Warrick looked at each other. "You don't think…" Nick started.

Catherine seemed to be the most affected by the evidence that had nothing to do with the case. "Look in the closet and print it, I'm going to go talk to Grissom," she said and walked out of the room.

Nick dusted the doorknob and found two partials. Warrick kneeled down and looked in the closet. He looked around, and found the phone, he took pictures of it and put it into a plastic evidence bag.

Catherine ducked under the crime scene tape and walked over to Grissom. She wasn't surprised that his arm was around her. She put her hands into her pockets.

"Hey Gil, can I ask you something?" She asked as she walked up to the two of them. Gil nodded.

"How long have you two been living together?" She asked as simply as she could.

"A year maybe," Grissom answered, also pretending as if it was no big deal and stuff like that happened every day. Catherine nodded, turned, and ducked back under the crime scene tape to continue doing her job.

Catherine walked into Sara's bedroom. "They've been living together for about a year," she said, informing Nick and Warrick. That was the last they spoke about it, they had more important things to worry about, like finding Dani and Adam.

They heard something ring, Catherine, Nick and Warrick looked at each other, it wasn't any of their phones. Catherine looked on the table beside the bed, where a cell phone was, and it was the one that was ringing.

Catherine looked at the caller ID. It read '_New Message_.' Catherine picked up the phone, and Nick, Warrick and Greg, who had just entered the room crowded around her. Catherine flipped open the phone and it revealed who sent the message.

'_Dani's Cell.'_


	8. The Little Hope We Have

Chapter Eight ;

The Little Hope We Have

Dani opened her eyes slowly, surrounded by darkness except for the light that came through the ripped drapes of a window that was near the ceiling. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get out that way. Dani looked down, she was sitting in a wooden chair. She tugged on her hands, and as she expected, she was tied up.

Dani looked around, and didn't see the guys that broke into her apartment. She tilted her head back and saw the back of Adam's head. He was also sitting on a chair, and tied up. Dani had no clue what they were going to do. She looked around and quickly realized they were in a basement of some building, not a house, but a relatively large building.

Adam lifted his head slightly, and he looked around. Dani turned her head and noticed he was conscious. She moved her hands to see how much she could move them, from what she could tell, her hands were tied to two separate pieces of the chair, which was on either side of her. Which was a bad move on the kidnappers part, because now, Dani could reach her cell phone that was in her pocket.

"Adam?" Dani asked.

Adam turned his head and noticed Dani behind him. "Where are we?"

"I think a basement, but I can reach my cell phone," Dani whispered.

"No one's going to hear you if you call anyone, you'll have to yell into the phone," Adam said.

"That's why text messaging was invented," Dani whispered. She got her cell phone out of her pocket and turned her head so she could see it. She scrolled through her phone book and found Sara's Cell. She texted as fast as she could, she was scared half to death that the kidnappers were going to walk through the door.

_We're fine, my phone is on silent, text me back, I'll try to figure out where we are._

Dani put her phone back in her pocket, and looked around again. She didn't recognize the place they were in. What was there to recognize? It was a room with two chairs in it. Dani tried to think, but her mind was scattered. She was too scared; tears fell down her cheeks.

What if she never left this room? What if the kidnappers just left them here to die and decompose and rot into corpses? What if years later, when Sara and Grissom found them, all they found were rotting corpses? What if Adam fell into the mind deepening, thought threatening nothingness that death was first? Dani would just be talking to him one minute, and then his stomach would begin to eat itself until the life was taken away from him, slowly, and he would feel every breath leaving him as it escaped his dry throat.

Dani would be left talking into the silence and his rotting flesh until her own stomach ate away at itself, and her organs finally gave up and shut down for good. Then her flesh would slowly decompose into a skeleton with the help of insects that would later be analyzed by Grissom.

Dani shook her head and pushed the thoughts away. She looked around again, trying to find some way to get out. Or at least find something that would help Sara, who could freely move.

--

Sara broke down into painful sobs. Catherine had just showed her the cell phone. Grissom had his arm around her waist, as Sara cried into his shoulder. He didn't have to hide it anymore, and no one had the right to judge them at a time like this. Catherine could feel tears pricking the back of her eyes as she thought about what would happen if it was her daughter that was kidnapped.

Once Sara had stopped crying, Catherine handed her the phone and Sara opened her inbox and read Dani's message. She let out a light sigh of relief as she read it.

_We're fine, my phone is on silent, text me back, I'll try to figure out where we are. _

She handed the phone to Catherine with a slight smile on her face. There was still hope, it was a small hope, but big enough to be seen. Grissom hugged Sara, hoping it would help some, but it didn't. You can't help your girlfriend's sister being kidnapped without finding her.

Catherine let out a small smile to Sara, as if to tell her without words that they were going to get the guys that took her sister and her sister's friend.

"Where are Adam's parents?" Sara asked suddenly.

Catherine shrugged, "I don't know, Jim told me he called them an hour ago."

Grissom got a confused look on his face, why didn't they come to their son's rescue? Sara and him had practically ran out of the building when they found out.

"You should probably text her back," Catherine said.

"I know, but I don't know what to tell her," Sara said, pain in her eyes at the sudden loss of hope she felt. She didn't know what to say, what to do, or how to help. Her mind was scattered, and anything she thought of didn't make sense.

"Just tell her that we're working on finding her, and that if she figures anything out, tell her to tell us," Catherine said with another shrug. "She's smart, I have a feeling what she tells us will help us a lot."

Sara sighed, then smiled at Catherine's compliment. Catherine handed Sara the cell phone, and Sara began writing a text message to Dani.

--

"Adam, what if we don't get out of here?" Dani asked, her voice was weak because of the subject of the conversation.

There was a pause, then Adam spoke, "Do you want the scientific version or the non-scientific version?"

Dani let out a laugh, an actual laugh. A time like this and she was actually laughing. "I know the scientific version, probably better than you."

"You'd like to think that," Adam said. They both stopped talking and became serious. Dani took her cell phone out of her pocket; she had one new message. She flipped the phone open and read it.

_We're trying our best to find you. Tell us if you figure anything out. Sweetie, stay safe. I love you. _

Tears fell down Dani's cheeks. She tried to push them away, but it didn't work, they still came anyway. There was noise outside of the door to the room they were in, and Dani put away her cell phone as quickly as she could. She didn't know what to do, it might have been a good idea to pretend to be knocked out for a bit longer, but it might be a better idea to not.

As the door to the room they were in creaked open, Dani noticed the wall past the door, she had seen the paint before, the colour, the design. It looked like the wall and the room they were in connected to a hallway to a building. Dani's eyes went wide.

She knew where they were.


	9. Separated

Chapter Nine ;

Separated

Sara was standing in the DNA lab, pacing back and forth. Greg was sitting behind a computer, watching fingerprints that they had collected from the doorknob of the closet in Sara's room compare to prints in AFIS. Grissom was leaning against one of the desks, with his arms folded across his chest.

Every so often, Sara would look down at her cell phone, which was in her hand. She had thought that in the seconds she had spent not looking at it, maybe Dani had texted her without her hearing it ring. No, she was just anxious to get Dani back as fast as she could. She at least hoped that Dani was with Adam, the two of them could probably find some way out of wherever they were, assuming they were trapped somewhere.

Greg had hid elbow on the desk and his chin in his hand. He stared at the screen as different prints flashed onto the screen, comparing themselves to the print that had been recovered. The three of them hadn't said more than five words to each other since they had started standing around, waiting for a suspect.

--

Dani let the tears fall, if the kidnappers knew anything about kidnapping, crying probably wouldn't seem so outrageous to them. Adam, on the other hand, tried staying as silent and as emotionless as he possibly could. Dani hoped that the kidnappers would leave the room again, so she could text Sara and tell her where they were.

Dani's eyes followed the two men that had entered the room. They scanned the room, making sure nothing was out of place, making sure the two kids in the centre of the room hadn't tried to escape. Their evil glares turned towards Dani once they had looked around the whole room. She stared back cold and hard.

"Hello sweetie," one of them said in a dark and raspy voice. Dani just stared back, she didn't want to say anything to them, she didn't know what to say to them.

Once the kidnappers knew she wasn't going to speak, they walked around so they were in front of Adam. He stared back with blazing fear in his eyes.

"So, boy, you wouldn't mind if we went somewhere else with your girlfriend, would you?" The raspy voice asked. Dani's eyes widened, she definitely did not like the sound of that.

"I'd mind," Adam said, it surprised him that he had said it in a calm voice, hypocritical to the look in his eyes.

"Well, you don't always get what you want," The other voice said, it was higher, and the man was younger. "Either of you scream, and we kill the other in front of you, then kill you."

Both of them were silent.

"Glad we understand each other," said the darker voice. He nodded towards the younger man, and they both walked away for a moment. They left the room, and Dani took the chance.

She slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and turned to Adam. Adam was staring back at her.

"Text Sara, tell her we're in the basement of the apartment building," she whispered and reached her hand out as far as she could so she could give him the phone.

"What about you? By the time she gets here, you'll be somewhere else," he argued.

"We're in an apartment building, he won't be able to go far because they're taking me by force, I suspect I'll still be in the building," Dani explained. Adam nodded, then slipped the cell phone into his own pocket.

"I'm jealous of how brave you are," Adam said quietly.

"That means I'm dead scared," Dani replied.

"That's a contradiction though," Adam pointed out.

"Exactly," Dani said.

The kidnappers came back into the room with more rope and a pair of scissors. The younger one cut the rope binding one of Dani's hands, and the older one held her arm. Then the younger one cut the other rope binding Dani's other hand, and the older one grabbed her other arm and tied them together. The younger man walked out into the hallway, and then poked his head back into the room and nodded towards the other man. The older man put his arm around Dani and onto her shoulder, and guided her out of the room. The younger man closed and locked the door as they walked out of the room.

And Adam was left alone.

--

The computer beeped and Greg, Sara and Grissom all looked at each other before watching the computer do a final comparison, in more detail, and then match the fingerprint. Sara and Grissom were now leaning over Greg's shoulder.

"The print is a match to a James Kilgan," Greg announced, "His current address is…"

"No way," Sara said. Her cell phone started ringing and she looked down at it. _One New Message_.

Sara flipped the phone open and read the message.

_We're in the basement of the apartment building. They took Dani somewhere else. Hurry, you might catch them. _

Sara closed her phone, "Basement of the apartment building, but only Adam's there."

"Then where's Dani?" Greg asked. Sara looked back at the computer screen and wrote down the address.

'_Hesterland Apartments, Apartment 21B' _


	10. A Last Obstacle

Chapter Ten ;

A Last Obstacle 

The sirens were loud. The lights were flashing. The police car was speeding. Jim Brass and Gil Grissom were driving towards Sara's apartment building. The plan was that, with back up, Jim and Gil would go to the basement of the apartment building and get Adam.

Sara, who was in a police car with Greg, Catherine, and two police officers, was to go into the apartment where their suspect lived. Hopefully, Dani would be there. In her mind, the car wasn't driving nearly fast enough, but she knew it was driving plenty fast.

Sara got out her cell phone, and texted Adam. She hoped that concentrating on what to tell Adam would keep her mind off of how slowly they were getting to the apartment building.

_We're on our way, to get both of you. If they come back and want you to get out of the basement, stall for as long as possible. _

Sara flipped her phone closed and put it into her pocket. She stared out the window and bit her lip as she watched cars pull over to make way for the speeding police cruiser.

--

The younger man picked Dani up and laid her down on the bed. He tied her legs up at the ankles, and then walked into another room of the apartment. Tears flowed from her eyes again. She was scared, dead scared.

--

Adam sat alone. He felt guilty at knowing what might be happening to Dani at this very moment, and not doing anything about it. He kept staring at the door, waiting for police officers to come storming in, with their guns drawn and flaunting their courage. Adam had become a disgrace to the simple thought of courage.

--

The men had come back into the room where Dani was in. She wondered what they were going to do to her, since it would be hard for them to get her pants off with her legs tied up. Her eyes stared at them, screaming out for their pity, but they were kidnappers, why would they listen?

--

Sara tapped her fingers on her knee impatiently. She was holding in tears, she was trying to stay strong, but soon the barrier would break and she would become the emotional mess that no one knew about. Sara felt that soon she would break down, and she wouldn't be able to hold it in.

Greg put a supporting hand on her shoulder. Sara turned to him and gave a light smiled; he showed her a little smile. He seemed to be stressed about the case, more than Catherine, but not as much as Sara. Catherine was showing her emotions like a rock, and Sara couldn't tell that she almost took herself off the case. The thought of Lindsey being kidnapped again kept appearing in her mind. The thing was, Catherine couldn't let herself off the case, and she had to see for herself that kidnapped children could be saved.

Sara turned and stared out the window, her mind was racing, her heart was pounding, and she had a huge headache that she was ignoring. She was light-headed, but she ignored that too. Her mind was set on one thing, saving Dani. The police cruiser just wouldn't get to the apartment building fast enough.

--

"Don't scream, or I'll kill your boyfriend in front of you," The older man reminded Dani.

As calmly as she possibly could, Dani spoke, "He's not my boyfriend." Her voice was still shaky.

The two men seemed surprised that Dani actually spoke.

"He's just my friend, do you think my mom would let me have my boyfriend sleep over at my house?" Dani said. The two men actually laughed. This surprised Dani, and she became slightly less scared out of her mind. Her job just got a whole lot easier. She knew that Sara was most likely on her way, so all she had to do was stall, and she'd come out of this alive.

--

The police cars drove into the parking lot of the apartment building. The car had barely stopped before Sara had gotten out of the car. Greg ran after her, but he couldn't catch up. Sara's adrenaline was pumping and she was running too fast. As she got to the door to the apartment building, the CSI in her stopped herself and thought it was smart to wait for the rest of them.

The two teams of CSI's and police officers grouped into one and listened to Jim Brass explain what they were going to do.

"Alright, we don't want to mess this up. From what we know, Dani is with the kidnappers, but we don't want to take any chances. So, Sara, Greg, George and Carl and I are going into the apartment, 21B. Gil, Catherine, Ken and Dave will go to the basement of the apartment building. Cuff the criminals, then bring the victim out here. Leave one person with the victim, and go to where the other victim is. Everyone clear?" Jim explained. Everyone nodded, there were no objections, and so the group went into the apartment building and parted.

Grissom, Catherine, Ken and Dave, took off down a set of stairs with their guns drawn. They came to a door that was at the end of an empty hall. It was locked. Grissom smashed the lock, his adrenaline was also pumping. The four of them rushed into the room, guns pointing in different directions as they looked around the room.

"Grissom!" Adam said happily. Gil ran over to him and cut the rope that bound his hands. Adam threw his arms around Grissom and wept like a child. Grissom hugged the boy back, and hoped that Sara had found Dani.

"Where's Dani?" Adam asked as they walked out of the room and he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I'm about to go help Sara find her, go with this officer, okay?" Grissom said and nodded towards Ken. Adam nodded and followed Ken out of the apartment building.

With their guns drawn, Grissom and the other officer, Dave, ran up to apartment 21B. They entered the room cautiously, with their guns as their noses.

They heard Sara's voice coming from another room, "Sir, drop the gun." Then a gun shot, followed by Dani's screams.


	11. Make The Memories Fade

Chapter Eleven ;

Make the Memories Fade

Grissom's world fell apart as different outcomes of what he had heard went through his mind. As he ran to the room where the gunshot came from, different scenarios rushed in and out of his imagination.

Dani's hand clutching her chest, where the bullet had penetrated, and Sara hugging her sister close as Dani's last breath escaped her lips. The kidnappers were feeling no guilt whatsoever for shooting the little girl.

Sara falling back, as she felt the impact of the bullet force itself through her body. The bullet went through the wall behind her and stayed there. Sara felt the hole in her stomach bleed until she had lost too much blood. All she heard in her last minutes were Dani's cries as the kidnappers took her somewhere else.

Grissom shook his head as he got to the room. He looked around, at Dani and Sara first, making sure neither of them were shot. They weren't. He looked and saw a man lying on the ground, trying his hardest to breathe. He looked at Jim, who was putting his gun away and calling for the ambulance crew to come to the apartment. Gil looked at Sara, who was pointing her gun at a young man, who wasn't a day over 30.

Dani, who was tied up, on a bed, was staring at Gil. She was smiling. She was alive. Dave walked up to the young man, whose hands were on his head. Dave cuffed him and lead him out of the room. Paramedics came into the room with a stretcher. They lifted the man up and onto the stretcher, then carried him out of the room.

Jim and the other police officers left the room. Grissom cut the ropes that bound Dani's legs and arms. As soon as she could move, Dani sat up. Sara ran and threw her arms around Dani, she was crying. Dani hugged Sara back, she was also crying. Grissom put his arms around the both of them, and rested his head on top of Dani's.

The family let go of each other. "I was so scared," Dani admitted, she was still crying. "I'm sorry, Sara, I should have hid better, we should have called the police as soon as we heard them come in. I-"

"Dani, it's not your fault, you helped us catch two murderers; they kidnapped and killed two other girls… and you helped catch them," Sara said, trying to make her feel better. Dani put her hand to her mouth, and put her head on Sara's shoulder as she cried some more.

Half an hour went by, and then the three of them got up and left the room. Sara was holding Dani's hand as they walked out of the apartment. They walked down a set of stairs and then out of the apartment building. Adam was talking to Ken, about thirty feet away from where Dani, Sara and Grissom were. As soon as Dani saw Adam, she let go of Sara's hand and started running as fast as she could towards him.

Dani flung her arms around Adam, causing him to almost fall back. Adam hugged Dani back and started crying. Adam rocked her back and forth in his arms as he heard her crying too.

"What did they do to you?" Adam asked through sobs.

Dani sniffled then spoke, "Nothing, Sara came in before they did anything, they just tied my legs together." Adam nodded and that was the last that was said about it. Neither of them wanted to remember anything about the horrid experience, neither of them wanted the memories to last.

--

Dani and Adam were sitting on the couch in the living room part of Sara's apartment. Adam's arms were around Dani protectively. Sara was sitting in the other chair, lost in her thoughts. Grissom was at the crime lab, watching Jim and Catherine interrogate the two men that had kidnapped Adam and Dani.

Adam looked at Dani, and knew that she was thinking about something. She was trying to make a decision, Adam could see it in her eyes. All of them were quiet, it was a painful silence, but breaking it would have been worse.

"I want to go to court," Dani said simply.

Sara turned her head to her sister, "What?"

"I want to go watch the trial," Dani said, her eyes had remained in the same place since she had been thinking about it.

"Dani," Sara started then paused, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I want to," Dani said, her tone was emotionless, and had been that way since she had started talking.

"I want to go too," Adam said, he turned and looked at Sara. Sara's mouth was open, she didn't know what to say. She didn't really want the two of them to go, because things could go wrong if a victim went to a suspect's trial.

"Adam, I can't speak for your parents," Sara finally said, she thought about it for a moment. "Actually, I haven't seen them since…"

"They were waiting at the crime lab, and they saw you run out of the building with Grissom, so they just waited. The officer, Ken, let me call them when we were outside the apartment building," Adam explained.

"What about me?" Dani asked. "You still have to speak for me, I want to go, I want to hear their sentence."

Sara looked at her sister with empty eyes, she wanted to say no, but she wanted to say yes. "I'll talk to Grissom about it," she finally said.

Then the silence re-instated.


	12. Sister Like Sister

Chapter Twelve ;

Sister Like Sister

Grissom was sitting on one of the benches inside the courtroom. He was holding Sara's hand, and she was sitting beside him. He could tell that she was nervous, and everything was fluttering her mind.

Sara's mind was going through memories rapidly. It seemed that being in a courtroom, holding someone's hand, waiting for someone who had hurt her to be put on trial. She remembered watching his eyes stare her down. She remembered avoiding his gaze for nearly half the time she was in the courtroom.

Adam was sitting beside Sara, worrying heavily about Dani. She was sitting beside him, starting to get agitated. She wanted this guy to be put behind bars as soon as possible; she wanted him to see her at his trial. She wanted to give him a death glare, one that told him she wasn't scared anymore. This guy had kidnapped her, just like the guy who killed her foster family had. It was like a merry-go-round, it just kept happening.

Greg, who was sitting beside Dani, had decided to come to the trial for support. It wasn't going to be a tough case to prove, two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping. They had a lot of forensic evidence for a case like this, and didn't even need Dani or Adam to testify.

--

"We the jury find James Kilgan guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping. We also find Tyler Kilgan guilty of accomplice to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping," said one man on the jury.

Dani's expression brightened, and she smiled bigger than she had in a very long time. She hugged Adam excitedly, and felt Greg's hand on her back. She turned to him.

"Thanks for the support," she said and nodded. Greg smiled, and Dani put her arms around him. He hugged back, and then she let go and turned to Sara.

"I sentence James Kilgan and Tyler Kilgan to a life sentence without the possibility of parole or bail," the judge announced. Dani smiled to Sara, she was unbelievably happy. It seemed that almost every problem that had ever bothered her went away for a brief moment. Then she remembered the world's problems, and was forced to think of her own, and she knew that this only solved a few.

Outside of the courtroom, Grissom and Sara were talking, and Greg, Dani and Adam were having a separate conversation. Catherine passed by and briefly waved to the bunch, she testified and explained the evidence to the jury. She began to walk off, but Dani ran up to her and gave her a hug.

Catherine looked down at the girl with confusion. "What's this for?" She asked before Dani let go.

"For testifying," Dani said and shrugged.

Catherine shrugged back, "No problem, it's just my job." She smiled at the young girl. "What school are you going to in September?"

"Butterfield Academy," Dani answered, wondering why Catherine had asked.

Catherine smiled, "What grade?"

"Nine," Dani answered, her mind still wondered why these questions were being asked.

Catherine raised an eyebrow, "How old are you?"

Dani mimicked Catherine and raised her eyebrow back, "Twelve, turning thirteen in September."

Catherine tilted her head, "You skipped a grade?" She inquired.

Dani tilted her head back, "Yep."

Catherine let out a dry laugh at the mimicry. "My daughter goes to Butterfield Academy, same grade," she finally explained. "She'd like you."

Dani raised her eyebrow again, "How do you know that she-"

"She likes people that make fun of her mom," Catherine said and laughed as she walked away. Dani smiled to herself as she walked back to Greg and Adam. They were talking about some video game that Dani had heard of, but hadn't played.

"Want to go get some ice cream with me and Greg?" Adam asked her as she re-joined the conversation.

Dani smiled, "Sure, if Sara says I can." She turned to Sara, who had been listening to the conversation the whole time, and already knew what she was going to ask. So, she nodded, it would be good for Dani to bond with some of her co-workers. Actually, it would be good for her to bond with other people than Adam all together, since he was the only person other than family she spent time with.

Suddenly a thought came to Sara's mind, and she smiled to herself. It would be nice, and easier to find a babysitter she could trust if Dani and Lindsay, Catherine's daughter, became friends. It seemed like a good idea to her, and she would run it by Catherine later. Dani had relatively gotten along with Catherine; better than Sara had when Catherine and her had first met anyway.

"I'll bring them back to your apartment when we're done, okay?" Greg asked, referring to their ice cream trip. Sara nodded, and Greg, Dani and Adam left the courthouse to go get ice cream.

Sara turned back to Gil, and he stared back at her. She stared for a moment, demanding answers in her expression. Grissom shrugged, reading her mind, and they walked to the car and drove back to the apartment.

--END.

I'll have the next book up soon, I already have the first chapter started for Book Three. :


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